Doom Eternal gameplay shows off fluid new movement options, hellish energy swords

Game director Marty Stratton and creative director Hugo Martin from id Software gave players their first look at the gameplay of the upcoming Doom Eternal during the keynote address of QuakeCon 2018. You can watch the footage above, and it certainly looks like another step toward reclaiming the fast pace and relentless violence of the original games.

The goal for the Doom Slayer was to “make him the strongest and most powerful hero we’ve ever created,” id Software’s Marty Stratton told the crowd. The pair also showed off concept art of some of the new enemies that will show up in the game. It was noted that one looks like the Doom Slayer, and there is “a story behind that.”

Image: id Software/Bethesda Softworks

The updated shotgun includes a grappling hook that pulls you toward enemies, just in case it was taking you too long to sprint toward them, and a wrist-mounted blade makes executions even more brutal. Everything seems even baster and bigger than what we saw in the last Doom game.

Maybe the biggest new addition is how the game treats multiplayer; players can now take control of demons and “invade” the campaign of other players, or even link up with other players to go hunting Doom Slayers online. It sounds as if this is a feature you can turn off if you’d prefer to play alone, however.

“We’re not just building a Doom game anymore — we’re building a Doom universe,” Stratton said during the presentation. You’ll be rewarded for exploring and digging into the lore. The hints at the game’s other locations even included an area that looks suspiciously like ... heaven? The demo ended by revealing a large demon, only to have the Doom Slayer whip out a red, glowing energy sword.

There was a lot of gameplay shown, with a lot of new features, weapons and moves. We’ll be discussing those in more detail in future posts.

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Doom Eternal was first announced during 2018’s E3 presentation, where we were told the game would include a more powerful Doom Slayer and “twice as many” demons as 2016’s Doom. There is no official release date for the game, but we know it’s coming to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Nintendo Switch.

And remember, “demon” is an offensive term, according to this new gameplay footage. The proper way to refer to them is “mortally challenged.”